View full sizeRusty Costanza, The Times-Picayune archiveThe streetcar line along Rampart and St. Claude to Elysian Fields will tie in with the existing Canal Street line.

Under a plan approved by the RTA board in January, the so-called French Quarter loop was supposed to travel along Rampart and then St. Claude from Canal Street to Press Street. If the agency could find the money, a second phase was eventually to extend the line to Poland Avenue in Bywater.

But RTA officials told a community meeting Tuesday night at Holy Angels Convent that further analysis shows they lack the money to take the line to Press Street.

Instead, the agency will use money from a 2010 bond sale that netted the agency $79 million to create the service along Rampart and St. Claude to Elysian Fields, a distance of about 1.3 miles. A decision has not been made on whether to run the tracks on the neutral ground or in traffic lanes on both sides of the median. The new line will tie in with the existing Canal Street line.

At the urging of residents who live along the proposed route, the RTA has scrapped a planned 1.2-mile spur on Elysian Fields Avenue that would have connected with the Riverfront streetcar line at Esplanade Avenue.

The transit agency has applied for a federal grant that would pay 80 percent of the estimated $98.5 million cost of extending the St. Claude line to Poland Avenue and of tying in the Loyola Avenue line, now under construction, with the St. Charles Avenue line.

The current design calls for the Loyola line, which is scheduled to begin service next summer, to end at the Union Passenger Terminal. The proposed extension would travel along Howard Avenue, linking that line to the St. Charles Avenue line at Lee Circle.

Under the grant application filed Oct. 31, the RTA would invest nearly $20 million of its own money in the two projects.

Last year, the RTA beat the odds to secure federal dollars for the Loyola line from a $1.5 billion component of the Obama administration's stimulus package.

The local application was one of 1,400 from all 50 states. Of the 30 cities that sought money for rail projects, New Orleans was one of just three to be chosen, along with Dallas and Tucson, Ariz.

This time, the competition will be even stiffer: The RTA will be competing with more than 900 other applicants for only $527 million that likely will be shared among 40 to 50 recipients. The grant winners are expected to be announced by year's end.

Even if the local agency secures more federal money, the plan to extend streetcar service to Poland Avenue still faces a challenge.

To reach Poland Avenue, streetcar tracks would have to cross the railroad tracks at ground level where St. Claude crosses Press Street. Norfolk Southern Railway, which has final say in the matter, opposes such a crossing, citing safety concerns.

City Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who represents the neighborhoods that would be served by the streetcar line, said she strongly supports extending service to Poland Avenue. But she said railroad officials have refused to meet with her to discuss the situation.

An aide to Mayor Mitch Landrieu said that while City Hall and RTA representatives have not sat down with Norfolk Southern, they have been meeting with the Federal Transit Administration about the railroad issue.

"We have brought FTA officials to look at the crossing," said spokesman Ryan Berni. "They've been very supportive of helping us resolve this matter, and we feel there's been positive movement on that."

In the meantime, the RTA is awaiting final design drawings for the Canal Street-to-Elysian Fields component.

The project is expected to go to bid next summer, according to Justin Augustine, the top local executive with Veolia Transportation, the France-based conglomerate that took over management of the RTA's buses and streetcars three years ago.

Barring unforeseen delays, he said, construction should begin next fall, with completion projected in late 2013 or early 2014.

Augustine said the ideal scenario would be for the RTA to receive the federal grant late this year and immediately begin design on the Elysian Fields-to-Poland Avenue segment.

Asked by a resident Tuesday what the public can do to help, Augustine urged the more than 120 people gathered for the presentation to lobby members of the state's congressional delegation.

"I suggest you call, you write," he said. "You beg, you bother. This stuff works."

Even if the application is rejected, Augustine said, FTA officials have indicated that more grant dollars for light rail projects will be available in the near future.